Hyperbolic Groups Lecture Notes

Transcription

1 Hyperbolic Groups Lecture Notes James Howie Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS Scotland Introduction This is a revised and slightly expanded set of notes based on a course of 4 lectures given at the postgraduate summer school Groups and Applications at the University of the Aegean in July I am very grateful to the University of the Aegean - in particular to Vasileios Metaftsis - for the opportunity to give the lectures and to publish the notes, and for their warm hospitality during the summer school. The subject matter is hyperbolic groups - one of the main objects of study in geometric group theory. Geometric group theory began in the 1980 s with work of Cannon, Gromov and others, applying geometric techniques to prove algebraic properties for large classes of groups. In this, the subject follows on from its ancestor, Combinatorial Group Theory, which has roots going back to the 19th century (Fricke, Klein, Poincaré). It adds yet another layer of geometric insight through the idea of treating groups as metric spaces, which can be a very powerful tool. In a short lecture course I could not hope to do justice to this large and important subject. Instead, I aimed to give a gentle introduction which would give some idea of the flavour. I have tried to prepare these notes in the same spirit. One difficulty one faces when approaching this subject is the fact that there are several (equivalent) definitions. To give them all would be time-consuming, to prove equivalence more so. I have settled for giving just two definitions, each motivated by the corresponding geometric properties of the hyperbolic plane, and ignoring the question of equivalence. The first lecture deals in general with groups seen as metric spaces, introduces the idea of quasi-isometry, and illustrates the ideas using the study of growth of groups. The second lecture gives the thin-triangles definition of hyperbolic group,

2 and uses it to give a simple proof that hyperbolic groups are finitely presented. (This is a consequence of a more far-reaching result of Rips, to which we return later.) The third lecture introduced Dehn diagrams and isoperimetric inequalities, gives the linear isoperimetric inequality definition of hyperbolic groups, and indicates how to use this to obtain solutions of the word and conjugacy problems for hyperbolic groups. The final lecture was designed to give a glimpse of two slightly more advanced aspects of the subject, namely the Rips complex and the boundary of a hyperbolic group. In practice, I ran out of time and settled for discussing only the Rips complex. However, I have included a section on the hyperbolic boundary in these notes for completeness. I hope that these notes will encourage readers to learn more about the subject. The principal references in this area are the original texts of Gromov [7, 8, 9], but several authors have worked on producing more accessible versions. I found [1, 2, 4] useful sources. 2

3 Lecture 1: Groups as metric spaces Geometric group theory is the study of algebraic objects (groups) by regarding them as geometric objects (metric spaces). This idea seems unusual at first, but in fact is very powerful, and enables us to prove many theorems about groups that satisfy given geometric conditions. How can we make a group G into a metric space? Choose a set S of generators for G. Then every element of G can be expressed as a word in the generators: g = x ɛ 1 1 x ɛ x ɛn n, where x 1, x 2,..., x n S and ɛ 1, ɛ 2,..., ɛ n = ±1. The natural number n is called the length of this word. If g, h G then we define d S (g, h) to be the length of the shortest word representing g 1 h. Lemma 1 d S is a metric on the set G. Proof. By definition, d S (g, h) N. In particular, d S (g, h) 0. Moreover, d S (g, h) = 0 if and only if g 1 h is represented by the empty word (of length 0). But the empty word represents the identity element of G, so d S (g, h) = 0 g = h. If x ɛ 1 1 x ɛ x ɛn x ɛn n... x ɛ 2 2 x ɛ 1 d S (g, h). n is a word of minimum length representing g 1 h, then h 1 g = 1, so d S (h, g) d S (g, h). Similarly, d S (g, h) d S (h, g), so d S (h, g) = Let x ɛ 1 1 x ɛ x ɛn n and y δ 1 1 y δ ym δm g 1 h and h 1 k respectively. Then be words of minimum length representing x ɛ 1 1 x ɛ x ɛn n y δ 1 1 y δ ym δm is a word (not necessarily of minimum length) representing g 1 h h 1 k = g 1 k. Hence d S (g, k) d S (g, h) + d S (h, k) (the triangle inequality). Remarks 1. The metric d S on G is called the word metric on G with respect to S. It takes values in N. This distinguishes it from the metrics associated to more standard geometric objects (euclidean or hyperbolic space, surfaces, manifolds), which take values in R +. However, if the units of measurement are very small, or equivalently if we look at G from a great distance, then we cannot distinguish between the discrete-valued metric d S and some continuous-valued approximation to it. This can all be made precise and used to compare G with more familiar and continuous metric spaces such as euclidean or hyperbolic space. 3

4 2. The metric d S is related to the Cayley graph Γ(G, S) in a natural way: we can identify G with the set of vertices of Γ(G, S), and two vertices g, h (g h) are adjacent in Γ if and only if g 1 h S or h 1 g S, in other words if and only if d S (g, h) = 1. More generally, if g, h are joined by a path of length n in Γ(G, S), then we can express g 1 h as a word of length n in S, so d S (g, h) n. The converse is also true: if g 1 h can be expressed as a word of length n in S, then g, h can be joined by a path of length n in Γ(G, S). Hence d S (g, h) is precisely the length of a shortest path (a geodesic) in Γ(G, S) from g to h. 3. The metric d S depends in an essential way on the choice of generating set S. For example, if we take S = G then d S is just the discrete metric: d S (g, h) = 1 whenever g h. This is not an interesting metric, and can not be expected to give interesting algebraic information about G. To avoid this kind of problem, we restrict attention to finite generating sets S. In particular, all groups from now on will be finitely generated. 4. Even with the restriction to finite generating sets, the metric depends on the choice of S. In particular, for any g, h G, we can choose a generating set S that contains g 1 h, so that d S (g, h) 1. However, despite such obvious problems, the dependence can be shown to be limited in a very real sense, so that if we look at G from a distance then the effects of changing generating set become less apparent. In other words, there are many properties of the metric space (G, d S ) that are independent of the choice of S. These properties are the objects of study in geometric group theory. Quasi-isometry An isometry from one metric space (X, d) to another metric space (X, d ) is a map f : X X such that d (f(x), f(y)) = d(x, y) x, y X. It follows that f is continuous and injective. If f is also surjective, then f 1 : X X is also an isometry, and in this case we say that the metric spaces (X, d) and (X, d ) are isometric. This is an equivalence relation between metric spaces. Isometric metric spaces are regarded as being the same, just as isomorphic groups or rings, or homeomorphic topological spaces, are the same. Quasi-isometry is a weaker equivalence relation between metric spaces that meets the requirements of geometric group theory by neglecting fine detail and concentrating on the large picture seen from a distance as mentioned in the remarks above. It is defined in an analogous way. Let λ, k be positive real numbers. A map f : X X 4

5 is a (λ, k)-quasi-isometry if 1 λ d(x, y) k d (f(x), f(y)) λd(x, y) + k x, y X. Now f is not in general continuous or injective. If f is almost surjective, in the sense that every point of X is a bounded distance from the image of f, then there is a (λ, k )-quasi-isometry f : X X for some λ, k, that is almost an inverse to f. In this case we say that the metric spaces (X, d) and (X, d ) are quasi-isometric. Examples 1. (Z, d) and (R, d) are quasi-isometric, where d is the usual metric: d(x, y) = x y. The natural embedding Z R is an isometry, so a (1, 0)-quasiisometry. It is not surjective, but each point of R is at most 1 away from Z. 2 We can define a (1, 1 )-quasi-isometry f : R Z by f(x) = x rounded to the 2 nearest integer. 2. We can generalise the above example. Let G be a group with a finite generating set S, and let Γ = Γ(G, S) be the corresponding Cayley graph. We can regard Γ as a topological space in the usual way, and indeed we can make it into a metric space by identifying each edge with a unit interval [0, 1] R and defining d(x, y) to be the length of the shortest path joining x to y. This coincides with the path-length metric d S when x and y are vertices. Since every point of Γ is in the 1-neighbourhood of some vertex,we see that (G, d 2 S) and (Γ(G, S), d) are quasi-isometric for this choice of d. 3. Every bounded metric space is quasi-isometric to a point. 4. Z Z is quasi-isometric to the euclidean plane E If S and T are finite generating sets for a group G, then (G, d S ) and (G, d T ) are quasi-isometric. Indeed, let λ be the maximum length of any element of S expressed as a word in T or vice versa. Then the identity map G G is a (λ, 0)-quasi-isometry form (G, d S ) to (G, d T ) and vice versa. Hence, when we are discussing quasi-isometry in the context of finitely generated groups, we can omit mention of the particular generating set, and make statements like G is quasi-isometric to H without ambiguity. Growth Suppose that G is a finitely generated group, and that S is a finite generating set for G. We define the growth function γ = γ S : N N for G with respect to S by γ(n) = { g G d S (g, 1) n }. 5

6 In other words, γ(n) is the number of points contained in a ball of radius n in (G, d S ). The growth function of a finitely generated group clearly depends on the choice of generating set, but only in a limited way. Suppose that S and T are two finite generating sets for a group G. Let k be an integer such that every element of S can be expressed as a word of length k or less in T. Then for each integer n, the n-neighbourhood of 1 in G (with respect to the metric d S ) is contained in the kn-neighbourhood of 1 (with respect to d T ). Hence Similarly, there is an integer k such that γ S (n) γ T (kn) n N. γ T (n) γ S (k n) n N. Thus the asymptotic behaviour of γ S (n) as n is independent of S. This asymptotic behaviour is what is known as the growth of G Similar arguments show the following. Lemma 2 Let G be a finitely generated group, H a subgroup of finite index, and γ, δ the growth functions of G, H respectively, with respect to suitable choices of finite generating set. Then there exists a constant C > 0 such that γ(n) δ(cn), δ(n) γ(cn) n N. Thus the asymptotic behaviour of the growth function is the same for a subgroup of finite index. More generally, if G and H are quasi-isometric finitely generated groups, then the asymptotic growth rates of G and H (with respect to any choice of finite generating sets) are the same. In other words, the asymptotic growth rate is a quasi-isometry invariant. Examples 1. If G contains an infinite cyclic subgroup of finite index, then G has linear growth. It is enough to consider the growth function of G = Z with respect to the standard generating set S = {1}. But clearly γ S (n) = 2n + 1, a linear function of n. 2. If G contains a free abelian group of rank r as a subgroup of finite index, then the growth of G is polynomial of degree r. Again, it is enough to consider G = Z r, with S a basis. A simple calculation shows that γ S (n) is a polynomial of degree r in n. 6

7 3. If G contains a free subgroup of rank greater than or equal to 2, then G has exponential growth. To see this, first note that, when S is a basis for a free group F of rank r, then the number of elements of F of length m in S is 2r(2r 1) m 1 (for all m 1). Summing over m = 1,..., n, we see that γ S is exponential in n. Since every finitely generated group is a homomorphic image of a free group of finite rank, no group can grow faster than a free group. Thus no group grows faster than exponentially. Conversely, if G contains a free group F of rank r 2, then we can choose a finite generating set T for G such that T contains a subset S that is a basis for F. Then γ T (n) γ S (n) grows exponentially. The definitive result on growth of groups is the following, due to M Gromov [6]. (See also [10] for a survey on groups of polynomial growth, and [3] for an alternative proof of Gromov s Theorem.) Theorem 1 Let G be a finitely generated group. Then G has polynomial growth if and only if G has a subgroup of finite index that is nilpotent. There exist groups whose growth functions are intermediate (faster than any polynomial, but slower than any exponential). The first examples of these were due to R I Grigorchuk [5]. On the other hand, it is known that any group with growth bounded above by a polynomial function actually has polynomial growth. The degree of the polynomial can be computed from the lower central series of the nilpotent group. Here is the simplest nonabelian example. Example The Heisenberg group is the group H of 3 3 matrices with integer entries of the form 1 x y 0 1 z It is nilpotent of class 2 with centre Z(H) = [H, H] infinite cyclic. Its growth is polynomial of degree 4. To see this, we choose a system of three generators {a, b, c}, where a = 0 1 0, b = 0 1 1, c = Here c = [a, b] is central in H: [a, c] = [b, c] = 1. Now it is not difficult to show that every element of H has a unique normal form expression if the form a α b β c γ, α, β, γ Z. A naïve deduction from this would be that H has the same growth rate as Z 3, which is cubic. However, for any m, n Z we have [a m, b n ] = c mn, so that the length of c n as a shortest word in the generators grows asymptotically as 7

8 4 n, rather than n. (On the other hand, a n and b n are shortest words representing these elements for all n.) Hence the number of words of length n or less grows approximately like n 4 /4. 8

9 Lecture 2: Thin triangles and hyperbolic groups Hyperbolic groups are so-called because they share many of the geometric properties of hyperbolic spaces. There are a number of possible ways to define hyperbolic groups, which turn out to be equivalent. I will discuss only two of them. In order to motivate these, let us first look at some of the properties of the hyperbolic plane H 2, where these differ substantially from the euclidean plane E 2. Thin triangles in the hyperbolic plane The incircle of a triangle (in E 2 or H 2 ) is the circle contained in which is tangent to all three sides of. The inradius of is the radius of the incircle. For example, in E 2 if is an equilateral triangle whose sides have length l, then the l inradius of is 2. As l, the inradius also tends to. 3 The situation in H 2 is quite different, however. Suppose = 1 is a triangle in H 2 with vertices x, y, z, and let c be the incentre of (that is, the centre of the incircle). Now for each t R +, let x t be the point on the half-line from c through x, y, z respectively, such that d(c, x t ) = t d(c, x). Define y t, z t in a similar way, and let t be the triangle whose vertices are x t, y t, z t. The inradius of t is an increasing function of t. However, this time it does not tend to as t. The limiting situation is an ideal triangle, whose vertices all lie on the boundary of H 2. Now all ideal triangles in H 2 are congruent, and have area π. This is clearly an upper bound for the area of the incircle of an ideal triangle, so 1 is an upper bound for the inradius of, and hence also for that of. In the hyperbolic plane H 2, all triangles are thin, in the sense that there is a bound δ R (actually, δ = 1) such that the inradius of every triangle is less than or equal to δ. A consequence of this is that each edge of a hyperbolic triangle is contained in the 2δ-neighbourhood of the union of the other two edges: if x is a point on one edge of, then there is a point y on one of the other edges of such that d(x, y) 2δ. Geodesic and hyperbolic metric spaces In order to generalise the concept of thin triangles to other metric spaces, and hence to groups, we need to develop a more general notion of triangle. A geodesic segment of length l in a metric space (X, d) (from x to y) is the image of an isometric embedding i : [0, l] X with i(0) = x and i(l) = y. In other words, we have d(i(a), i(b)) = b a for all 0 a b l. A (geodesic) triangle in X (with vertices x, y, z) is the union of three geodesic segments, from x to y, y to z and z to x respectively. 9

10 Note that in a metric space (X, d) there may not in general exist a geodesic segment from x to y (for example, if X is a discrete metric space). If geodesic segments exist, they need not be unique. For example, in R 2 with the l 1 -metric d 1 ((a 1, a 2 ), (b 1, b 2 )) = a 1 b 1 + a 2 b 2, there are infinitely many geodesic segments from (0, 0) to (1, 1). A geodesic metric space is one in which there exist geodesic segments between all pairs of points. (There is no requirement for these geodesic segments to be unique.) A geodesic metric space X is hyperbolic if all triangles are thin, in the following sense: there is a (global) constant δ such that each edge of each triangle in X is contained in the δ-neighbourhood of the union of the other two sides of. Examples 1. Every bounded geodesic metric space is hyperbolic. If d(x, y) B for all x, y, then automatically any side of a triangle is contained in the B-neighbourhood of the union of the other two sides. 2. Every tree is a hyperbolic metric space. It is clearly geodesic, since any two points are connected by a shortest path. Moreover, any side of a triangle is contained in the union of the other two sides. 3. The hyperbolic plane H 2 is a hyperbolic metric space, by the thin triangles property for H 2 described above. 4. More generally, hyperbolic n-space H n is a hyperbolic metric space by the thin triangles property for H 2 (since any geodesic triangle is contained in a plane. 5. Euclidean space E n is not a hyperbolic metric space for n 2, since E 2 does not satisfy the thin triangles property. Lemma 3 Let (X, d) and (X, d ) be geodesic metric spaces that are quasi-isometric to one another. If (X, d) is hyperbolic, then so is (X, d ) (and conversely). The proof of this is not difficult, but is quite technical, so I will omit it. Details can be found, for example, in [4, p. 88]. The key point is that hyperbolicity for metric spaces is an invariant of quasi-isometry type, which is important because the metric space defined by a finitely generated group is only well-defined up to quasi-isometry. 10

11 Hyperbolic groups If G is a group, with (finite) generating set S, then (G, d S ) is not a geodesic metric space, since d S takes values in N. However, the geometric realization of the Cayley graph K = Γ(G, S) is geodesic, with respect to the natural metric (which is quasiisometric to G). If K is hyperbolic as a metric space, then G is called a hyperbolic group. The first thing to note is that this property is independent of choice of generating set, since being hyperbolic is a quasi-isometry invariant. Also, subgroups of finite index in hyperbolic groups are hyperbolic. Conversely, groups containing subgroups of finite index that are hyperbolic are themselves hyperbolic. Examples 1. Every finite group is hyperbolic, because its Cayley graphs are all bounded. 2. Every free group is hyperbolic, because it has Cayley graphs that are trees. Moreover, if G has a free subgroup of finite index, then G is quasi-isometric to a free group, and hence hyperbolic. 3. The fundamental group of a surface of genus g 2 is quasi-isometric to H 2, and hence is hyperbolic. 4. Z Z is quasi-isometric to E 2, and hence is not hyperbolic. The fact that Z Z is not hyperbolic shows that not every finitely generated group is hyperbolic. In fact, a stronger statement than this is true: there are 2 ℵ 0 isomorphism classes of finitely generated groups, but only ℵ 0 of these are hyperbolic. How do we know this? Not by examining an uncountable set of groups individually, but by a simple cardinality argument. The set of all finite group presentations is countable, by the standard countability argument. The following is a simple version of a theorem due to E Rips (see Théorème 2.3 on page 60 of [2]). Theorem 2 Every hyperbolic group is finitely presented. Proof. Let G be a hyperbolic group, and let d = d S be the metric on G determined by some fixed finite generating set S. For each n N we define and X n = { g G δ(g, 1) n } R n = { xyz x, y, z X n, xyz = 1 in G } { xx 1 x X n } F (X n ). Then X 1 X

12 and R 1 R 2... so if we define G n = X n R n then we obtain a sequence of group homomorphisms G 1 G 2... G = G. Note first that these homomorphisms are surjective. If g X k+1 \ X k, with k 1, then there exist elements u, v X k with uvg = 1 in G. Since u, v, g X k+1 it follows that uvg R k+1, so uvg = 1 in G k+1. Hence the image of G k G k+1 contains the generating set X k+1 and so it is surjective. Next we show that G N G N+1 is injective (and hence an isomorphism) for all sufficiently large N. It follows that G = G N for all large N, or equivalently that G = X N R N, so is finitely presented, as claimed. We fix N 2δ. Suppose that xyz R N+1. In other words, x, y, z X N+1 with xyz = 1 in G. We have to show that this relation can be deduced from those in R N. Unfortunately, the elements x, y, z do not in general belong to X N. To make sense of this, we first choose, for each x X N+1 \ X N, a canonical splitting x = x 1 x 2 with each of d(x 1, 1) > δ, d(x 2, 1) > δ and d(x, 1) = d(x 1, 1) + d(x 2, 1). We then add the generator x and the relation x 1 x 2 x 1 to the presentation for G N to get an equivalent presentation. Having done this, we now show how to deduce xyz = 1 from the relations in X N together with the canonical splitting relations. Case 1 x, y X N, z X N. Let P be the point of the geodesic segment z corresponding to the canonical splitting z 1 z 2. By the thin triangle property, this is within distance δ of some point Q on one of the other edges of the geodesic triangle with vertices at 1, x, xy. The geodesic P Q, together with the geodesic from Q to the vertex of opposite the edge containing Q, divides the geodesic triangle into three smaller triangles, each of the edges of which has length N or less. It follows that the relation xyz 1 z 2 = 1 can be deduced from three relations in R N, as required. Case 2 y, z X N. By case 1 we can assume all (true) relations of the form abc = 1 with a, b X N and c X N+1. Here we proceed exactly as in case 1, starting from the canonical splitting of z. The point Q may lie on an edge of length N + 1, in which case it corresponds to a (possibly non-canonical) splitting of x or y - say x = x 1x 2 (but still with x 1, x 2 of lengths less than N + 1). Hence the relation x = x 1x 2 is one we are allowed to assume. Finally, we divide as before into three smaller triangles. This time it is possible that one of the three triangles has one side of length N + 1, but all other sides of the smaller triangles have length N or less. By case 1 we are done. Similar arguments apply to the relations of the form xx 1, x X N+1 \ X N, completing the proof. 12

13 Lecture 3: Isoperimetric inequalities and decision problems Consider a Jordan curve C in the euclidean plane E 2. The Jordan curve theorem tells us that C bounds a compact domain D in E 2. The isoperimetric inequality compares the area of D to the length of C. To make sense of this, let us assume that C is nice (smooth, polygonal, piecewise smooth,... ) so that it has a well-defined (finite) length and D has a well-defined (finite) area. A classical result of calculus of variations says that, for C of fixed length l, the area of D is maximised when C is a circle (of radius r = l/2π). This maximal area is πr 2 = l 2 /4π. Hence the isoperimetric inequality for E 2 is: Area(D) l2 4π. Note that the right hand side of this inequality is a quadratic function of l. We can look at the same thing in the hyperbolic plane H 2. Again the maximal area occurs when C is a circle. In H 2 the length of a circle of radius r is 2π sinh(r), and its area is r 0 2π sinh(t)dt = 2π(cosh(r) 1) 2π sinh(r) so in this case we have an isoperimetric inequality Area(D) l for domains D bounded by curves of length l. The important difference here is that the right hand side of the inequality is a linear function of l. What is the relevance of this for groups? Let P : X R be a finite presentation of a group G. If w F (X) is a word that represents the identity element 1 G, then it can be expressed, in F (X), as a product of conjugates of elements of R and their inverses: w = (u 1 1 r ɛ 1 1 u 1 )... (u 1 n r ɛn n u n ), where u i F (X), r i R and ɛ i = ±1. There will in general be infinitely many such expressions. The least value of n amongst all such expressions is called the area of w, Area(w). The notion of area for words representing 1 G has a geometric interpretation. Definition A van Kampen diagram or Dehn diagram over the presentation P consists of the following data: 13

14 A simply-connected, finite 2-dimensional complex M contained in the plane. An orientation of each 1-cell of M. A labelling function that labels each 1-cell of M by an element of X, such that the composite label of the boundary of each 2-cell (read from a suitable starting point in a suitable direction) is an element of R. (Here, an edge labelled x X contributes x to the boundary label of the 2-cell if read in the direction of its orientation, and x 1 if read in the opposite direction.) The complement of M in the plane is topologically a punctured disc. It also has a boundary that is a closed path in the 1-skeleton of M. The label of this path is called the boundary label of the diagram. Note that it is defined only up to cyclic permutation and inversion. Lemma 4 There exists a Dehn diagram with boundary label w if and only if w = 1 in G, in which case the minimum number of 2-cells in all Dehn diagrams with boundary label w is Area(w). Example P = x, y, [x, y], (where [x, y] means xyx 1 y 1 ), Then Area(w) = 4. w = [x 2, y 2 ] = (x[x, y]x 1 )([x, y])(yx[x, y](yx) 1 )(y[x, y]y 1 ). y y x x x y y x x x y y The function f : N N defined by f(l) = max{area(w) w F (X), w = 1 in G, l(w) = l} 14

15 is called the Dehn function, or isoperimetric function for the presentation P. A given finitely presented group has (infinitely) many possible finite presentations, which can have very different Dehn functions. However, there are aspects of Dehn functions that are independent of the choice of presentation, and hence are invariants of the group G. Lemma 5 Let P and Q be two finite presentations for a group G, and let f, g be the corresponding Dehn functions. Then there exist constants A, B, C, D N such that f(n) Ag(Bn + C) + D n N. In particular, if g is bounded above by a function that is linear (or quadratic, or polynomial, or exponential,... ) in n, then the same is true for f. These properties are thus invariants of the group G. Definition A finitely presented group G has a linear (quadratic,... ) isoperimetric inequality if for some (and hence for any) finite presentation P with Dehn function f, there is a linear (quadratic,... ) function ˆf such that f(n) ˆf(n) n N. A finitely presented group G is hyperbolic if it has a linear isoperimetric inequality. We have now given two distinct definitions for hyperbolic group. Implicit in this is an assertion that these two properties are equivalent: the thin triangles condition is equivalent to the linear isoperimetric inequality condition. Examples 1. Every finite group is hyperbolic. If G is a finite group, then the Cayley table for G is a finite presentation for G. In other words, we take G to be the finite generating set, and the set of all true equations xy = z in G for the set of defining relations. Given a word w F (G) such that w = 1 in G, what is Area(w)? If w has length 3, then it is a relation in G. If it has length greater than 3, then it has the form w = xyu, where x, y G and u is a word. If z G with z = xy, then w = (xyz 1 )(zu) with zu shorter than w. An inductive argument shows that Area(w) l(w). 2. Every free group is hyperbolic. Indeed, if F = X is the standard presentation, then the empty word 1 is the only cyclically reduced word representing the identity in F, and Area(1) = The fundamental group of a surface of genus g 2 is hyperbolic. This is because of a Theorem of Dehn: let G = a 1, b 1,..., a g, b g [a 1, b 1 ] [a g, b g ] 15

16 and let w be a word in the generators a i, b i such that w = 1 in G. Then there exist cyclic permutations w = uv of w and r = us of the relator r = [a 1, b 1 ] [a g, b g ] or its inverse r 1, with a common initial segment u of length greater than half the length of r, that is l(u) > 2g. It follows that Area(w) = Area(uv) Area(s 1 v) + 1, while l(w) < l(s 1 v). An inductive argument then shows that Area(w) < l(w). 4. Z Z is not hyperbolic. Under the presentation G = x, y [x, y], the word w n = [x n, y n ] has area at most n 2. Indeed there is a Dehn diagram for w n which is a square of side length n in E 2, subdivided into n 2 squares of side length 1. On the other hand, the boundary of this Dehn diagram is a simple closed path in E 2 bounding a square of area n 2, so n 2 is a lower bound for the area of w 2 n. Now l(w n ) = 4n, so this sequence of words shows that no linear isoperimetric inequality holds for Z Z. The word problem Let G be a group given by a (finite) presentation X R. (Much of what follows can also be done for certain types of infinite presentation, but let us keep things simple.) The word problem for G is that of deciding algorithmically whether or not a given word w in the generating set X represents 1 G. A solution to the word problem is an algorithm that, when an arbitrary word w is input, will output YES or NO after a finite time, depending on whether or not w = 1 in G. As with most of what we have been doing, this problem appears at first sight to depend on the choice of finite presentation for G. However, it can be shown to be independent of this choice. Indeed, given two finite presentations X R and Y S of isomorphic groups G and G, there are functions X F (Y ) and Y F (X) that induce the isomorphisms. Given an algorithm to solve the word problem for X R and a word w in Y, we can apply the function Y F (X) to rewrite w as a word w in X, then apply our solution to decide whether or not w = 1 in G. Since this is true if and only if w = 1 in G, we are done. (NB this solution assumes the existence of isomorphisms G G. Although the practical implementation of the solution uses one of these isomorphisms, it does not assume that we are able to find it for ourselves. Indeed, the problem of determining whether or not too given presentations represent isomorphic groups is another insoluble decision problem, called the isomorphism problem). At first sight the word problem seems trivial. We have a very good criterion for deciding whether or not w = 1 in G: namely, can we express w as a product of conjugates of elements of R (and their inverses) in F (X)? Why can we not use this criterion as an algorithm? In fact, this criterion supplies part of the answer, but the other part is missing, in general. 16

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